Provided qualitative standards are met during production, biochar offers a promising opportunity to make agriculture more climate-friendly and resilient. The prerequisite is that there is no competition with higher-value uses of plant residues.
Biochar has environmental potential, particularly in the area of soil improvement in terms of nutrient supply, reduced fertilizer requirements and improved water availability and retention capacity. Biochar can also have a positive impact on water and wastewater treatment, especially in decentralized scenarios or in the absence of centralized treatment. Due to the stable binding of carbon in the soil, biochar contributes not least to long-term CO2 sequestration and represents an “upcycling” compared to the uncontrolled disposal of plant residues via incineration currently practiced in many places.
The effect of biochar depends heavily on the quality, dosage and integration into existing agricultural systems and habitats. Proper and professional production therefore requires the application of and compliance with established standards (e.g. European Biochar Standards), as well as extended expertise in raw material science, process engineering/pyrolysis, analytics and quality assurance, environmental and legal issues and application technology in practice.
In the DBU project cluster “Biochar”, a country scoping exercise will initially provide an overview of the current status of biochar production and use as well as the influence of research and development projects on the transformation and innovation processes there. These potentials can then be further explored, developed and activated by knowledgeable local stakeholders through in-depth country studies and specific implementation projects.
The regional focus for this international funding priority lies in the DBU target region in Central Eastern and South Eastern Europe. Here, the use of biochar could improve the quality of soils that are prone to erosion and – due to intensive land use and dry periods – are sometimes very poor in nutrients and semi-arid. Furthermore, potential for improving water quality is seen here, particularly in rural areas, especially where no centralized and high-tech treatment systems can be implemented in the foreseeable future.